Using Allegory in your Work - I have a new painting to start…

Lately, I’ve been doing more reading that artwork. I am an avid reader. It’s been an obsession of mine most of my life. One of my favorite authors is C.S. Lewis among others.

I have found that there always seems to be an underlying allegory to his writing that hides just as much as it tells. For instance, in his book “The Great Divorce” he tells a story that is about a bus ride from Hell into Heaven. While there is a lot of spiritual talk and elements surrounding the story, there is a rich visual element to what he communicates in story form. Over the next month I am going to be beginning a painting that captures the beauty of this human exegesis of our state as a human condition. There will be two elements that will primarily take center stage in this painting. The Grey (old English spelling) Town and the Bright Land that they enter in the story.

The Grey Town

… is a symbolic reference to Hell. It communicates a unsatisfactory existence that strives for self-indulgence of every whim but without any true fulfillment. The entire element of the grey town is the size of a grain of sand in the reality of the Heaven represented. This is in in truth the shadow lands that our lives can turn into take when we live completely in ourselves. The people in the shadow lands live in selfish agony over what should, could, and would be done if they were in charge. They are self-absorbed, ignorant people devoid of light and truth.

The Bright Land

…is a symbolic reference to Heaven. It communicates the hope and the complete fulfillment of our desires. But it exists outside of us, is more real than we are and provides an element of hope for ultimate completeness without belittling who we are created to be. It is a land of color and light, and truth.

So I have a basic idea of what I am going for in this painting. I think this will be a larger painting as well. Probably the same size as my last abstract expressionist painting that I did.